Four years of obsessive engineering in the unwavering belief that technology should be open, repairable and hackable
HERO IMAGE:
Comet in action
Every breakthrough built on what came before
German energy conglomerate needs remote monitoring for factory acceptance tests. The existing solution? Clunky, expensive, impossible to deploy.
Industrial setup
Factory floor equipment
First prototype
SBC + power bank + GoPro mount
Peak COVID. October. Installation becomes need-of-the-hour. We design a housing for an SBC, jam in a power bank battery, add a GoPro mount.
The realization: Deploying software to cloud = easy. Deploying Python scripts to physical hardware = nightmare.
April. Decision time: pivot from consulting to product. Two parallel tracks: warehouse management (safe) vs. remote FAT system (moonshot).
November 28th: The breakthrough moment. "Why not make this into a handheld?" 🔥
Form factor evolution
Box → Handheld sketches
IMAGES: Mecha branding evolution
Logo iterations, color palette
January. Solo trip to Dehradun to find inspiration. MECHA emerges – inspired by Godzilla films and giant robots.
April-May: Register US and India entities. Mecha Systems is born. All-in decision: discontinue Actonate consulting business.
The Great Thickness Reduction:
Rev 1: 21.5mm → Rev 2: 18.5mm → Target: 16mm
Semiconductor crisis hits. NXP automotive backorders to oblivion. Settlement: iMX8M Mini – the only available SoC with good cost/capability balance.
IMAGES: PCB evolution
Rev 1 → Rev 2 comparison
IMAGES: GUI evolution
Rust + Iced framework screenshots
Language choice: Rust (lower barrier than C/C++, perfect for low-level Linux interfacing)
Framework: Iced for GUI
OS pivot: Yocto → Debian for package ecosystem
The Mechanix OS birth: Debian rootfs + Yocto bootloader/kernel = magic ✨
India FOSS: 3 AM. Slider not working. Fingers crossed. Then → MAGIC! People get it. Community seeded.
The final evolution: System-on-Module + Carrier → Single PCB design. Target achieved: closer to 16mm thickness.
The name emerges: Comet ☄️ – fast, bright, carrying material from distant places.
IMAGES: India FOSS event
Community reactions, demos
Current Comet
Final form (so far)
Mecha Comet: 1.8GHz ARM64 quad-core, 8GB LPDDR4, 3.92" AMOLED display, 40 pogo pins, magnetic extensions.
Mechanix OS: Debian 12 with custom UI, full Linux package ecosystem, hardware-optimized.
Every breakthrough built on the bones of what came before.
Each failure teaching us what not to build next.
Harry Potter spell that summons whatever you need. "Grab information from any real world source."
Giant robots. Mechanical precision. The company name inspired by Godzilla obsession.
Fast, bright, carrying material from distant places. "Out of this world."
Not because we hate big tech, but because we love human potential.
Every late night, every failed prototype, every moment of doubt - all leading to this: technology that serves imagination.